Black Dragon, White Blade
by Warrior of Ice and Shadow
Summary: Ryu Fumei is an amnesiac. He doesn't remember anything, but has an odd pull. He finds a white katana and outfit, but doesn't realize the sword is his zanpakuto. When he converses with it for the first time, he's in for a surprise. Rated M for swearing. Fem!Ichi, Harry! I only own Ryu. Fumei Ryu means "Unknown Dragon."
1. The Unknown Dragon

_**AN: I own Kokuryu Kurayami and his zanpakuto. I OWN NOTHING ELSE. Here's a tip: Kokuryu doesn't remember anything, so when he communes with his zanpakuto, he's surprised about how instinctual it is. He also finds out something else: He's not human. Enjoy!**_

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Prologue:

The White Sword, The Black Dragon

A man was wearing a black pair of pants, with a dark grey t-shirt over it. Strapped to his thigh was a sheathed dagger. Over the shirt was a long, hooded, black robe. He was looking around, clearly not recognizing his surroundings. Suddenly, he stooped, seeing something that must have held some kind of hold on him. When he straightened again, he was holding a sword. It was straight, until one looked at the tip. It curved into a wickedly sharp point. The entire sword, and most of the sheath was white. The sheath had a black dragon embossed on it. The sword's hilt was wrapped in such a way that it looked scaled, but the tassel was bound together, until it hit the end. It split into two strands of equal length. The blade was white, with an alabaster stone embedded in the blade. The sword was about five or six feet long, yet he handled it easily. He grabbed his head, suddenly, dropping the sword, as he collapsed to his knees, a pained whimper escaping through his clenched teeth.

Slowly, the man sat up, a name having come to him, one he recognized, despite the fact that he couldn't remember why it hit him so hard, so he said it out loud. "Ryu Fumei. I... I am Ryu Fumei." As he straightened, he saw an almost entirely white outfit. White boots, white hakama, black obi, black underrobe, white over robe, and a white trench coat. Shrugging, Ryu put them on, then gripped the sheath of the sword. He looked at it, then turned and walked away, walking away from the fairly peaceful life which he barely remembered. He walked for days, heading towards the rising sun, never stopping for long, only long enough to rest. One day, he reached the coast. Somehow, he knew that he had to cross, so he began to sprint, crossing the seemingly-solid waves of water at a velocity that he should never have been able to reach. After about a fortnight, he reached the other coast.

Ryu stopped, crouched, and rested for a bit, before starting the next leg of his journey. He stood, and was about to start jogging to Surrey, when he noticed that he wasn't alone. "To what do I owe the pleasure of the presence of those about me?" he asked.

"Who are you?" demanded an orange-haired woman. She seemed to be about twenty, and wore a sleeveless white overcoat, which was adorned with a wide diamond, which had a plus and two dashes inside.

"Ryu Fumei," said Ryu. "Who are you?"

"Ichigo Kurosaki, Captain of Squad Twelve of the Thirteen Imperial Court Guard Squads of the Court of Pure Souls. What is your business here?" demanded the woman.

"I've been travelling here for a few months, following an odd call," said Ryu. Ichigo indicated the katana in Ryu's hand.

"What are you doing, bearing a katana?" she asked, curiously.

"This is my partner, and my blade. His name is Arabasutā no Ryū, the Alabaster Dragon," said Ryu, somehow knowing that was what it was. He got a hunch, so he drew the sword, and cried, "Scatter the clouds, Arabasutā no Ryū!"

The small amount of spiritual pressure that had alerted them to his presence suddenly spiked, calmed, and spiked again, causing a massive dust cloud to raise. When it cleared, they were stunned to see Ryu encased in white armor, bearing the same sword as before. In his left hand, however, was a shield, the same color as his armor. He looked at himself, stunned. "Um... what is this?" he asked, flabbergasted.

"You know the name of your zanpakuto, but don't recognize your shikai?" asked Ichigo, wondering what this man was.

"Shikai?" parroted Ryu, questioningly, before shaking his head, "I don't know what that is."

"Shikai is the first stage of release for a zanpakuto. In your case, it seems to give you armor and a shield," said the woman on Ichigo's right. "Try communing with your zanpakuto."

"Alright," said Ryu, sitting down, still in Shikai. He closed his eyes, and the pressure skyrocketed, as he attempted to commune with his sword.

"What is this man?" asked the eldest of the group of shinigami, giving a voice to the question running through the shinigami's heads. He was tall, yet stooped, but he had the air of a seasoned warrior. He, too, wore a white overcoat, but it was just tossed over his shoulders. On the back was a wide diamond, like Ichigo's, but there was a single dash. This man was the Captain-Commander of the Thirteen Imperial Court Guard Squads, Shigekuni Genryusai Yamamoto.

After what seemed like an eternity, Ryu looked up. "Um... I don't think it worked."

"You were in Jinzen, weren't you?" asked Ichigo, confusing Ryu.

"Um... What?" he asked, seriously confused. Ichigo just sighed.

"Captain Commander, I think we should take him to Urahara's," she said to Yamamoto.

"I agree," said Yamamoto. "Take him there."

"Sir," said Ichigo, bowing to him. She turned to Ryu, and said, "Come here, Ryu. I'm gonna take you to see Geta-boshi."


	2. The Return of the Hidden Dragon

Chapter One:

Ryu was looking at a shop in Karakura Town with dismay. The name of the shop was Urahara Shoten, and he got the feeling just by looking at it, that it was owned and run by a mad scientist. The thought didn't do much to make him feel better. Ichigo walked forward, closely followed by the woman called Rukia Kuchiki, who was apparently a regular customer. Ryu resigned himself to feeling like he was being watched.

"Is this seriously Ryu Kakureta?" asked a disembodied voice.

"It is, but he doesn't seem to remember anything," snarled another, this one filled with blood-lust and killing intent. "Makes me wonder..."

"Attack to kill, and hope he wakes up?" suggested the first, but there was no hope in the tone.

"No," this one was clearly the boss. "We wait until he wakes up, but if he takes too long, then we kill him." The verdict was flat. "Even if he wakes up, kill him. Remember what he did to us."

Ryu turned and looked behind himself, unconsciously sliding the katana through the sash wrapped about his waist, and encasing himself in his armor. Keeping his hand on the sheath, and the other on the hilt, he looked around, cautiously. There was something malevolent about the night. After a few minutes, though, it vanished. He relaxed, sliding his katana out of the sash.

"What was it, Ryu?" asked Ichigo, noticing his tension, and subsequent relaxation.

"There was something about the night that was...malevolent," was his answer. "Whatever it was, it wants me dead."

Ichigo looked at him for a second, her haori billowing in the air, before nodding, and said, "Whatever it was, it wants something from you first." It was not a question.

"Indeed," said Ryu. "I get the feeling that I'll find out soon, one way or another."

Ichigo continued looking at him, and he asked, "What?"

"You seem to have the reiatsu of an Arrancar, when I can sense it... You must have a ridiculous amount of reiatsu..."

"And, that is _what_ exactly?" asked Ryu.

"Reiatsu is spiritual energy, and an Arrancar is a Hollow which regained it's reason," answered Ichigo.

"Hollow?" parroted Ryu, feeling like he should know what that was.

"A fallen soul," explained Urahara. "You can generally tell whether or not a soul is a Hollow by it's size, whether or not it has a mask, and if it has a hole."

"Ah," said Ryu, nodding in understanding.

"Now, I believe we have to deal with your memory loss problem?" said Urahara, snapping his fan shut with a _clack_. "If you'll follow me inside."

Inside Urahara Shoten wasn't much better than outside, but when Urahara removed a tatami mat, and showed off a very long ladder, Ryu got an odd feeling. They headed down the ladder, and landed in a massive underground cavern, that simply _had_ to have violated so many building codes that it wasn't funny. "This is ridiculous," he muttered, shaking his head.

"Hey!" cried Urahara, as Ichigo gave Ryu a high five. "This is where Ichigo-kun got her powers!"

"All of them, idiot!" snarled Ichigo, forcing a Cero up Urahara's ass. "Including the Inner Hollow I have now, because of you and your 'Shattered Shaft!' Now," she was slightly calmer, "Ryu's amnesia, Geta-boshi."

"R-right." Urahara got to his feet, gingerly holding his ass. Ryu couldn't help it, he started to laugh, and couldn't stop. The look on Urahara's face when Ichigo had shoved the Cero up his ass was pretty damn funny. It was the what the fuck? look that most people get when they walked into something, or something hit them out of nowhere. Urahara assumed a hurt face, which just made Ryu laugh harder. Something seemed to jar loose in his head, though, if the sudden blank look was any indication. Black reiatsu started to swirl around his feet, and surrounded him. His eyes were faraway, as though he wasn't with everyone in the room. He said, "Ryu Kakureta..."

Ichigo was puzzled. _Hidden dragon?_ Had Ryu gone off the deep end?

"I am Ryu Kakureta," he muttered. The reiatsu stayed black, but seemed to give off a sinister kind of light as the pressure on Ichigo and Urahara increased. "What is my purpose?" Ryu asked nobody in particular, before pressing his hands against his head, gasping in pain. The pressure increased exponentially, before just vanishing. As in, it completely vanished. It was as though Ryu had just died, it was just..._gone_.

"Fumei?" asked Ichigo, cautiously approaching him.

Great white draconic wings suddenly unfurled, tearing the shihakusho top he was wearing to shreds. Slowly, Ryu stood, as scales covered him. "I am not Ryu Fumei," he said, his voice rumbling deep within his chest. "I am Ryu Kakureta."

Ryu slipped the white katana through the sash wrapped about his waist, and was encased in armor again. But there was a difference. Instead of plate around his upper body, he was wrapped in Ginjotan, a heavy steel sash primarily worn under armor. He seemed crueler, somehow. Older, certainly.

_**AN: Well. This is a new development, isn't it? Apparently Ryu is not even a human. If that is the case, then just what **_**is_ he? R&R!_**


	3. A letter to you, the reader

**Dear Reader,**

**I'm sorry that I haven't continued this story recently, but my muse seems to enjoy jumping from story to story, so I'm not entirely sure how long it'll take for me to update the story. Sorry, but I hope that you'll forgive me. Eventually, anyway.**

**Thanks,**

**Warrior of Ice and Shadow**


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